FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 20, 2023
Brainerd Lakes, MN –United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 663 essential grocery workers in the Brainerd Lakes area continue to prepare for a Christmas time ULP Strike. Workers announced the ULP strike dates last week because their rights have been repeatedly violated when advocating for themselves and coworkers during contract negotiations.
Molly Cosert, front end manager at Quisberg’s Baxter Cub Foods said, “At Christmas my kids are usually most excited to spend time with family, getting together with cousins from the city and being teenagers together. But instead we’re getting ready to go out on a ULP strike. If going out on strike this Christmas is what we need to do to show Quisberg’s, Miner’s, and this whole community how essential we are, we will do it.
We hope Quisberg’s and Miner’s care for us more than this, because we care about these companies and would prefer not to cause long term damage. Striking and airing this all out with the customers and community will cause long term damage to the companies, and nobody wants that.”
In a statement sent out last week, the union bargaining committee said, “The decision to call a strike is not an easy one to make. It is always a last resort. However we have to stand up for our rights as essential workers. We continue to bargain in good faith for a contract that reflects our hard work and a workplace that honors the rights we have.”
The union bargaining committee has asked for future bargaining dates with the employers.
A four day Unfair Labor Practices Strike is set for December 22-25 at five Brainerd Lakes area grocery stores: Miner’s Super One Foods in Baxter, Miner’s Super One Foods in Crosby, Quisberg’s Cub Foods in Baxter, Quisberg Cub Foods in Brainerd, and Quisberg’s Pequot Lakes SuperValu.
Since last Tuesday, UFCW Local 663 has filed ULP charges against Quisberg’s and Miner’s for interrogation, surveillance, intimidation from their employers, and bargaining in bad faith.
Essential grocery workers are not alone. Minnesota’s Labor Movement supports these workers as they demand to stop having their rights violated. The Minnesota AFL-CIO and Teamsters Joint Council 32 have sent public letters to UFCW Local 663 voicing their support and strike sanctions if needed.
BACKGROUND:
Essential grocery store workers have been exercising their rights to take collective actions at their stores:
- December 19: Watch video of workers attempting to talk with Chris Quisberg, owner of Cub Foods Brainerd/Baxter and Pequot Lakes Supervalu banners to get talks started again to avoid strike over Christmas.
- See photos of strike ready workers here.
UFCW Local 663 members have experienced interrogation, surveillance, and intimidation from their employers as they exercised their rights to participate in protected concerted activity.
United Food & Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local 663 union members at Cub Foods, SuperValu and Super One Foods have been working without a collective bargaining agreement since December 3.
Watch the ULP Strike announcement on YouTube.
Map of Locations Affected by ULP Strike
In the latest round of contract negotiations, members are fighting for better wages and benefits to build a better life at work and better serve the communities that rely on them. Members hope to come to a tentative agreement with the companies soon.
Earlier this year, thousands of metro area UFCW Local 663 members at UNFI Cub Foods, Lunds & Byerlys, Kowalski’s Markets, and Seward Community Co-op voted to authorize Unfair Labor Practice strikes and were able to restore their rights on the job, and come to tentative agreements on their Union contracts. The earliest ULP strike was set to start before the busy Easter weekend, and was averted just hours before it was slated to start.
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UFCW Local 663 represents more than 17,000 hard-working essential retail, meat packing and processing, food preparation and manufacturing, healthcare, and other workers in Minnesota. We strive to improve the lives of our members and of all working families by fighting for economic, political, and social justice in our workplaces and communities. UFCW Local 663 is part of the 1.3 million-member United Food and Commercial Workers International Union.
Contact: Jessica Hayssen, 651-261-8559